Completion of work-based placement and critical evaluation (equivalent to 3000

60%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate enhanced employability skills such as initiative, communication, time management, independence, planning, presentation, and professional deportment

Demonstrate an enhanced understanding of contemporary professional working practice and the business environment of a specific field of creative production, and the considerations facing aspiring entrants to that field

Reflect on and evaluate experience acquired from work placement in order to draw up strategies for career development and entry to a theatre and/or production industry beyond graduation

Content

In addition to a three week placement, the module comprises lecture/workshop sessions and includes sessions on the following:

- Ideas generation and presentation
- Developing the idea
- From idea to performance: production logistics and budgeting
- Team Working: how to find and fulfill a role
- Marketing: the marketplace, selling the project and selling yourself

Brief description

Production Research Placement aims to introduce students to the requirements and considerations facing graduates about to enter the creative industries, in order to help them bridge the gap between education and post-graduation employment. It helps them to develop greater awareness and first-hand experience of the industries in which they hope to work, as well as enabling them to develop strategies to plan their entry paths into these careers. It equips them with the tools to develop specific production projects relevant to their specialism and chosen career path, enhances their awareness of business start-up and employment market issues, and seeks to develop their professional `deportment? and employability.

The module has two mutually-informing components, which are developed concurrently. In the first, students will be required to build on their existing knowledge of the creative industries acquired in other modules in order to understand and evaluate the economic, social and cultural challenges facing these industries. This will include a consideration of competing/varying business models (including that of the freelancer and the ways in which start-ups are generated), marketing strategies and career structures within the current and economic context. Alongside this, students will also be asked to apply their knowledge to their own situation, and will, for example, learn how to produce a business plan, write a CV appropriate to different audiences and consider how a project might be pitched and/or presented to potential employers.

In the second component, students will be supported in the search for a work placement in a relevant creative industry. Students will plan, source and organise their own placements, supported where necessary by academic staff, according to published guidelines.

Module Skills

Skills Type

Skills details

Application of Number

Communication

Communication skills ¿ oral and written- will be developed in the module through the written assignments and student placements.

Improving own Learning and Performance

There will be a continual dialogue throughout the module and students will also receive feedback on their formative assessment.

Information Technology

This is not developed explicitly but students are expected to engage with a range of IT tools as part of the module in terms of research for the module assignments and during the placement.

Personal Development and Career planning

This forms a central part of this module and is developed both through the teaching sessions and during the placement itself. The skill is assessed via the portfolio and the critical evaluation of the placement.

Problem solving

Students will be required to develop their problem-solving skills and this skill will be assessed through the critical documentation submitted following the placement.

Research skills

These skills will be developed throughout the module and form a key part of the work which will be undertaken by students. The skills will be assessed through the portfolio.

Subject Specific Skills

The module develops specific skills in production research which will be applicable to a range of media industries.

Team work

This is developed during the placement where students will be placed in a media production environment. Students will be required to reflect on the teamwork aspects of their placement experience.